2015 and spring is rapidly on its way. Don’t let your garden just sit there – ramp up its appeal with one of these five must-have landscaping ideas.

1. Indoor/Outdoor Flow

Boost the living space of your home by breaking down the barriers between the outdoor and indoor. Widen doorways; consider replacing the back wall of your home with floor-to-ceiling windows and French doors (or even a transparent wall).

Choose a polished tile for the patio or decking that continues nicely from your kitchen tile, or go for a paving that aligns nicely with your indoor floor design. Opening up this space to become more ‘living-friendly’ will help you feel that you have more living space for when friends come over or those hot summer days.

2. Columnar Trees

Columnar trees can look beautiful as an alternative garden wall and give a neater, almost regal feel to your garden. Fastigiate Hornbeams are likely to work best, along with Cypress tress; European Green Beeches or Japanese Holly ‘Sky Pencil’ trees (anything that will grow upwards, not outwards).

Shape your trees with regular pruning, to either become dense hedges; trim topiaries or to grow flat against an existing wall. This look can look stunning with paired with freshly mowed grass or some good AstroTurf.

3. French Drains

Rather than try to hide the drainage and irrigation in your garden, why not turn it into a beautiful decoration piece or focal point?

French drains can look pretty and sophisticated when installed parallel to another edge in your garden (such as a wall or the edge of decking/a lawn). They run much like a border on a carpet and are perfect for conservatories (or other indoor-outdoor area), for a sleek and elegant addition.

4. Rock Gardens

Add a touch of the wild to your garden with an impressive rock garden. Whether you’re choosing to replace the lawn with pebbles (overlaid with some decking) or just want to confine the feature to a specific part of your garden, rock gardens are low-maintenance and bring distinct variety to your landscape.

Rock gardens can also be implemented in individual flower beds or planters. They are in season all year round and there are countless different rock/stone styles to choose from. Talk to a professional landscaping company in Liverpool to learn what variations will suit your garden’s existing design and shape best.

5. Fire Features (or Fire ‘Pit’)

A sure way to get friends flocking to your garden this spring/summer is with a stunning fireplace feature. Often situated in the center of one’s patio or lawn, a fire pit makes your garden a true gathering place – ideal for those long, hot, barmy summer nights.

Whether you simply use it for generating heat and light, or prefer to use it to toast marshmallows and make every night feel like camping(!), a fire feature can be the perfect addition to make those barbecues and summer get-togethers last longer.

I always said I’d hate to be a lawnmower salesman and I continue to stand by those words today. Particularly now when Lawnmower ownership is dropping rapidly thanks largely to a boom in people getting artificial grass fitted in their gardens to save time and money on labour costs.

In Liverpool Artificial Grass NW are leading the surge in the installation of artificial grass. Elderly couples who struggle to maintain their lawn, busy families with no time to give to the garden and landlords who don’t want to be paying for someone to maintain the garden, everyone seems to be investing in artificial grass.

Twenty years ago I would never have considered doing it to my own lawn, you could spot artificial grass from a mile away. However now artificial grass is indistinguishable from the real stuff. Only the lack of bare patches, muddy puddles and brown grass during summer may give guests an indication of the true nature of your lawn.

A few examples below from Artificial Grass NW show just how realistic it can now look. Some of them even have lawnmower stripes on them!

Over the last few years, the city of Liverpool has seen a massive transformation, not just across its city centre or key attractions and world heritage sites, but also across a large number of its popular homes.

Although there has been a lot of property extending, renovation and transformation, nothing comes close to the boom in landscaping design that the city is going through.

Since the transformation of baron industrial land in the city’s southern district, JL Landscapes Liverpool have been at the forefront of this boom and are constantly asked for more unique, custom styles in terms of landscape design and installment. UK’s leading garden locations – The International Garden Festival, it seems as though Liverpool residents are looking to replicate this horticultural experience across their own gardens and lawns.

When it comes to hiring the services of a professional Landscaping Contractors, it can be quite difficult simply because the amount of different contractors in a particular area and not knowing how to find the really good ones whilst avoiding the bad ones.

In this article we will be discussing the key factors you need to know when choosing a contractor so that you can be guaranteed that whoever you choose, will do a good job and at a good price.

Below are some of the key factors you need to take into account when choosing the right contractor for you.

Background:

A professional landscaping contractor will be able to provide you with a portfolio of previous completed projects so you can inspect the quality, attention to detail and finish. If they cant provide a portfolio for you to browse, check their website. If they dont have a website then the chances are they are not as professional as you would think.

Ideas:

The really good landscaping contraxtors dont just do the work, they advise on potential designs and creative ideas. Although you may have a specific idea in your head as to how you want your project to look, by discussing it first with the contractor, they might be able to provide you with ideas that you never thought of originally.

Approach:

When it comes to actually doing the work, a professional landscaping contractor will always approach any project with a committed attitude to finish the job exactly how they said they would and within the deadline they set. When discussing your project with potential contractors, ask them if they will adhere to a deadline. If they dont, then they do not have a committed approach to finishing the project properly.

Protection:

One of the most important aspects people tend to overlook when hiring a landscaping contractor is that do they have any professional liabilty cover. There are always horror stories where a contractor has started work on a specific project only to rupture a water mains or gas pipe. If they dont have liability insurance then you could be liable for the costs of any repairwork so make sure that regardless of how professional they look, they have all the necessary insurance in place.